thecpt: Geotpf: The article mentions "shared bathrooms", so these aren't even apartments, more like rooms in a boarding house.That's common throughout NYC, actually. I've had friends who see having your own bathroom as a "perk."

And much of them in recent years were originally apartment buildings illegally turned into rooming houses, usually for immigrants. I have no friends who would see having their own bathroom as a "perk".

1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

Tommy Moo:1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

Until the upstairs toilet breaks and you get a flood of sewage.

/How about waterproofing a double wide and paddling up and down the Hudson?

Tommy Moo:1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

The only flaw in your plan: RatsMaybe make a step 2A: "adhere aluminum or sheet steel to all walls/floor/ceiling, only making penetrations for water pipe or electrical wires (remembering to make holes big enough for only for what you're bringing through"

Latinwolf:thecpt: Geotpf: The article mentions "shared bathrooms", so these aren't even apartments, more like rooms in a boarding house.That's common throughout NYC, actually. I've had friends who see having your own bathroom as a "perk."

And much of them in recent years were originally apartment buildings illegally turned into rooming houses, usually for immigrants. I have no friends who would see having their own bathroom as a "perk".

After college, I had a few friends in apartments like these particularly in the Village. They were kinda like long term hostels. They weren't lux by any stretch but they were relatively clean at least.

I have no idea why so many of the boroughs' landlords refuse to clean up their buildings. It drives me absolutely bonkers. You get the money you invested back in a year usually, and you can be a proud landlord of a good building. There's these rows of beautiful 3-family buildings in my neighborhood that are rented out to immigrants for chump change. They have such potential to be gorgeous and pricey if the landlords just gave a rat's ass about them. It's such a shame. But why bother if a family of 10 immigrants can be squashed into a 1 bedroom for $1k/month and won't complain?

Tommy Moo:1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

Great idea, except the part about having to re-caulk the door every time you enter or exit the apartment.Not to mention that you'd probably need about a thousand gallons of the stuff.

Tommy Moo:3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk

Keeping out bugs would require seals so complete you'll eventually suffocate -- and that's assuming rats don't just chew through the wall. I suppose you could drill holes in the wall to the outside, poke PVC pipe through them for ventilation and secure them with wire mesh, and re-seal them just before you move out. . . most slum lords (in my experience, anyway) only visit their properties when they absolutely have to. Still sounds like an awful lot of work, and even then you can't do anything about crime or noise.

Lollipop165:Latinwolf: thecpt: Geotpf: The article mentions "shared bathrooms", so these aren't even apartments, more like rooms in a boarding house.That's common throughout NYC, actually. I've had friends who see having your own bathroom as a "perk."

And much of them in recent years were originally apartment buildings illegally turned into rooming houses, usually for immigrants. I have no friends who would see having their own bathroom as a "perk".

After college, I had a few friends in apartments like these particularly in the Village. They were kinda like long term hostels. They weren't lux by any stretch but they were relatively clean at least.

I have no idea why so many of the boroughs' landlords refuse to clean up their buildings. It drives me absolutely bonkers. You get the money you invested back in a year usually, and you can be a proud landlord of a good building. There's these rows of beautiful 3-family buildings in my neighborhood that are rented out to immigrants for chump change. They have such potential to be gorgeous and pricey if the landlords just gave a rat's ass about them. It's such a shame. But why bother if a family of 10 immigrants can be squashed into a 1 bedroom for $1k/month and won't complain?

Sheer laziness. I'm in a different city, but I've seen the exact same behavior. Sure, a property could be really nice with just some basic maintenance... but the landlord really doesn't give a fark.

When my wife and I were still just dating, I would help her spruce up her apartment. The landlord didn't mind if we did work ourselves, and she was nice enough to let us deduct it from the rent. Being a bit of a preservationist handyman - I actually enjoyed having a project to "play" with. We painted the entire apartement (neutral colors). She retiled the bathroom. We repaired old windows with new glass. Ceiling fans were installed in every room that had a mount available. We even ripped out some very disgusting carpet and laid down laminate flooring. Repaired and refloored the porches so we could sit outside in nice weather. Even had the wrought-iron staircase railing welded so it wasn't wobbly and dangerous.

The landlord was shocked at the change in the place, but still complained about how much we spent - even though it was in all respects a very shoestring budget over an entire year. When it was time for my lady to move out, the new tenants showed up the same day as we were doing the final clean out. I carefully explained that I hadn't gotten around to rewiring the place, so that switch, that socket, etc. etc. still weren't working. They had assumed it did, but I pointed out some well-hidden power strips and extension cords that we used. Then, I asked them if they wanted me to replace the light fixtures, since we were taking our ceiling fans with us...

We still have a judgement against that landlord for our security deposit, because even the judge had to acknowledge we put way more money into that place than we should have. Unfortunately, the landlord is currently facing foreclosure on the property, so we probably won't see that money ever again.

Kraftwerk Orange:Sheer laziness. I'm in a different city, but I've seen the exact same behavior. Sure, a property could be really nice with just some basic maintenance... but the landlord really doesn't give a fark.

I would argue that with all the landlords, if one improves their property it won't elevate the price that much because the area around them looks like crap. They'd have to depend on everyone else (pending the quantities of landlords) making the same investment. So like a weird tragedy of the commons.

/farking landlord didn't put up the storm windows before we moved in. gdammit

Tommy Moo:1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

Kraftwerk Orange:When my wife and I were still just dating, I would help her spruce up her apartment. The landlord didn't mind if we did work ourselves

Years ago (late 1980s) I had a friend whose parents were renters in a 2 family home in Brooklyn. Back then the laws were very favorable for renters and the only way you could be evicted from such an apartment was if the owner wanted to use the unit himself or for someone in the family (law may still be like that I have no idea). Her parents' philosophy was that even though they weren't owners, they'd fix up the apartment they were renting as if they were the owner since they wanted to live in something nice.They had done this in previous apartments and never had an issue when they moved onto a new place. After moving, getting their new landlord's OK and being told he had no plans to use the apartment for himself or family member, they fixed up their new place, spending quite a bit of money.

Sure enough the landlord, seeing the new flooring, wall paper and other fixtures, all of the sudden decided he wanted the apartment back noting that aside from the ceiling fans the parents couldn't their improvements with them. The parents asked for reimbursement for their improvements but were denied. They were so mad they spent their last days destroying every single improvement they had made and told the LL to keep their deposit.

Sasquach:Tommy Moo: 1) Rent $300 Brooklyn apartment2) Throw away everything inside3) Seal every seam between every baseboard, floor, cabinet, and wall with caulk4) Clean everything5) Spend $1000 on decent second hand furniture6) Enjoy livable, bug-free apartment for $300/mo7) Call landlord every week to complain about living conditions so he doesn't figure out that you fixed it and raise your rent

The only flaw in your plan: RatsMaybe make a step 2A: "adhere aluminum or sheet steel to all walls/floor/ceiling, only making penetrations for water pipe or electrical wires (remembering to make holes big enough for only for what you're bringing through"

Oh, and I lived in a townhouse for a while that had a few of these lurking about:

Firebrats. They destroyed a few cardboard boxes I had used to move things in by eating away the glue but, otherwise, they were just kind of creepy looking little things you'd catch out of the corner of your eye skittering along the cracks in the floorboards when you turned a light on at night. Every great once in a while you'd catch one under the comforter on the bed too, but the instant the light hit them they took off like a rocket for the walls.

damageddude:Kraftwerk Orange: When my wife and I were still just dating, I would help her spruce up her apartment. The landlord didn't mind if we did work ourselves

Years ago (late 1980s) I had a friend whose parents were renters in a 2 family home in Brooklyn. Back then the laws were very favorable for renters and the only way you could be evicted from such an apartment was if the owner wanted to use the unit himself or for someone in the family (law may still be like that I have no idea). Her parents' philosophy was that even though they weren't owners, they'd fix up the apartment they were renting as if they were the owner since they wanted to live in something nice.They had done this in previous apartments and never had an issue when they moved onto a new place. After moving, getting their new landlord's OK and being told he had no plans to use the apartment for himself or family member, they fixed up their new place, spending quite a bit of money.

Sure enough the landlord, seeing the new flooring, wall paper and other fixtures, all of the sudden decided he wanted the apartment back noting that aside from the ceiling fans the parents couldn't their improvements with them. The parents asked for reimbursement for their improvements but were denied. They were so mad they spent their last days destroying every single improvement they had made and told the LL to keep their deposit.

We didn't expect to keep anything except the ceiling fans, and we were allowed to deduct costs of improvements from rent, so I've got no complaints there. The reason we sued in small claims - and won - was because the landlord never returned the security deposit. There was no way in hell she could argue the place wasn't in better condition when we left.

I know we'll never collect on the judgement, small claims courts are pretty much unenforceable and she doesn't have anything of value, aside from the house. Which, I mentioned, she's about to lose in foreclosure. The bank will be lucky to get paid what they're owed, all the rest of us with subordinate liens (including the city and county tax agencies) will be left holding our hats.

Kraftwerk Orange:damageddude: Kraftwerk Orange: When my wife and I were still just dating, I would help her spruce up her apartment. The landlord didn't mind if we did work ourselves

Years ago (late 1980s) I had a friend whose parents were renters in a 2 family home in Brooklyn. Back then the laws were very favorable for renters and the only way you could be evicted from such an apartment was if the owner wanted to use the unit himself or for someone in the family (law may still be like that I have no idea). Her parents' philosophy was that even though they weren't owners, they'd fix up the apartment they were renting as if they were the owner since they wanted to live in something nice.They had done this in previous apartments and never had an issue when they moved onto a new place. After moving, getting their new landlord's OK and being told he had no plans to use the apartment for himself or family member, they fixed up their new place, spending quite a bit of money.

Sure enough the landlord, seeing the new flooring, wall paper and other fixtures, all of the sudden decided he wanted the apartment back noting that aside from the ceiling fans the parents couldn't their improvements with them. The parents asked for reimbursement for their improvements but were denied. They were so mad they spent their last days destroying every single improvement they had made and told the LL to keep their deposit.

We didn't expect to keep anything except the ceiling fans, and we were allowed to deduct costs of improvements from rent, so I've got no complaints there. The reason we sued in small claims - and won - was because the landlord never returned the security deposit. There was no way in hell she could argue the place wasn't in better condition when we left.

I know we'll never collect on the judgement, small claims courts are pretty much unenforceable and she doesn't have anything of value, aside from the house. Which, I mentioned, she's about to lose in foreclosure. The bank will be l ...

I've never gotten a security deposit back in full. I just assume that the money is gone once I pay it. Never seen a landlord return it.

Katie98_KT:Kraftwerk Orange: damageddude: Kraftwerk Orange: When my wife and I were still just dating, I would help her spruce up her apartment. The landlord didn't mind if we did work ourselves

Years ago (late 1980s) I had a friend whose parents were renters in a 2 family home in Brooklyn. Back then the laws were very favorable for renters and the only way you could be evicted from such an apartment was if the owner wanted to use the unit himself or for someone in the family (law may still be like that I have no idea). Her parents' philosophy was that even though they weren't owners, they'd fix up the apartment they were renting as if they were the owner since they wanted to live in something nice.They had done this in previous apartments and never had an issue when they moved onto a new place. After moving, getting their new landlord's OK and being told he had no plans to use the apartment for himself or family member, they fixed up their new place, spending quite a bit of money.

Sure enough the landlord, seeing the new flooring, wall paper and other fixtures, all of the sudden decided he wanted the apartment back noting that aside from the ceiling fans the parents couldn't their improvements with them. The parents asked for reimbursement for their improvements but were denied. They were so mad they spent their last days destroying every single improvement they had made and told the LL to keep their deposit.

We didn't expect to keep anything except the ceiling fans, and we were allowed to deduct costs of improvements from rent, so I've got no complaints there. The reason we sued in small claims - and won - was because the landlord never returned the security deposit. There was no way in hell she could argue the place wasn't in better condition when we left.

I know we'll never collect on the judgement, small claims courts are pretty much unenforceable and she doesn't have anything of value, aside from the house. Which, I mentioned, she's about to lose in foreclosure. ...

I've never gotten a security deposit back in full. I just assume that the money is gone once I pay it. Never seen a landlord return it.

I've never not had one returned. Nor had my wife, until then. Most landlords aren't terrible - my example was really a unique encounter. Getting back your security deposit is a normal part of the apartment experience, not something that rarely happens.

Katie98_KT: I've never gotten a security deposit back in full. I just assume that the money is gone once I pay it. Never seen a landlord return it.

I had one try to hold me up for not dusting off the window sills after we moved everything out. I told him that's part of preparing the house for the next renter. His response: "Well, that's your opinion."

StrangeQ:Katie98_KT: I've never gotten a security deposit back in full. I just assume that the money is gone once I pay it. Never seen a landlord return it.

I had one try to hold me up for not dusting off the window sills after we moved everything out. I told him that's part of preparing the house for the next renter. His response: "Well, that's your opinion."

I wish people would just accept basic concepts of Supply and demand. Adding legislation doesn't help. It's easy to say everyone should have *at least* a 900 sq. ft. apartment. If you pass a law that says as much, all you'll get is people who can afford *at least* a 900 sq. ft. apartment and homeless people.

These people knew what they were getting when they rented the place they did. If they had better options they would have taken it. Now, after they've agreed to the conditions and price; they want 'the law' to come in and get them free renovations. They refuse to leave. And they'll refuse to pay more in rent.

Ultimately, they'll probably get what they want. Which is to be homeless. It happens every time a government tries to legislate an increase in everyone's 'standard of living'.

$300 a month? You should expected either a rent-controlled pre-war 9 bedroom apartment with quarters for three servants or a bathroom with no floor which you must share with a Russian black bear named Rudolf.

Fark_Guy_Rob://Lives in a 400 sq. ft. apartment///Who do I get to sue?

If your living space isn't habitable, your landlord.If it is, then your landlord is doing his job.The landlords in the article aren't. Either they need to do their jobs or get out of the landlord business. Those are the options, not including biatch that you don't get enough effortless money from your renters.

Holy crap! My pool room is about that size. I don't consider the house I'm renting to be "palacial" by any stretch of the imagination, but it's about 1500 sq. ft. 3 bedroom / 2 bath (and a pool room), covered carport, and a backyard, in central-Las Vegas. And at $1029 per month (including sewer and trash pick-up), it seems like a bargain. Mind if I ask what your rent is on a 400 sq. ft. apartment in (I'm assuming)NY?

Really? I don't mind the concept of rats, but they're very destructive. And mold causes me all sorts of problems with my sinuses.

Silverfish are just ugly. They're also cowards, though and spend most of their time running away if they get a choice.

Bedbugs, I'd say, are the worst, though.

I just have a personal vendetta against silverfish. Though my cats love to eat them up if they catch them, so they've basically eliminated the problem. Thankfully I am not allergic to mold, even though I'm allergic to most trees, weeds, and dogs and cats. Somehow I escaped being allergic to stuff that is actually harmful.

Holy crap! My pool room is about that size. I don't consider the house I'm renting to be "palacial" by any stretch of the imagination, but it's about 1500 sq. ft. 3 bedroom / 2 bath (and a pool room), covered carport, and a backyard, in central-Las Vegas. And at $1029 per month (including sewer and trash pick-up), it seems like a bargain. Mind if I ask what your rent is on a 400 sq. ft. apartment in (I'm assuming)NY?

I moved from a 450 sq ft apartment to a 2,000 sq ft house four years ago; what a difference. My mortgage on the house is $75 a month less than rent on the apartment was (ignoring a few big things like the down payment, maintenance, taxes, and insurance, but still). Of course, I only paid 3/8ths of what the previous owner paid for said house as well-and got a tax-free check for eight grand from the IRS to boot! (The housing crisis worked out very well for me.)

Eh. When I moved out of my last apartment ever, the landlord rolled up in his golf cart, declared the status of the apartment OK, and told me I ought to go ahead and give him his last month of rent now.

To which I replied "Well, you've still got the security deposit, so cut me a check for the difference."

You'd thought I'd just farked his daughter (which I would have, she was hot, ran the front desk) with the look I got.